Mike Spinelli

Estimates of China's new-car sales by 2020 range from 22 million to 31 million per year. It's no stretch to imagine the chrome wheels and coffee-can exhaust business spiking along with it. So, you won't be surprised that a local Beijing government built a huge complex outside the city just for tuning shops.

It's called Tuner Tribe, also known by some as Cool Cars Town. It's a massive, former industrial site that's now home to both global distributors of aftermarket parts and smaller Chinese firms betting that the appeal of decorating one's car will extend to the city's widening upper middle class of car owners.

/DRIVE recently stopped in China for a 48-hour whirlwind tour of Beijing car culture (coming in a future episode of /DRIVEN). While we were there, we hooked up with Tony Sun, the local SEMA rep to find out why the government wants to be in the car-modifying business, and what the future holds for the aftermarket business in the world's most populous country.